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The Echo

Young Conservationists Tackle Big Issues

Published on December 20, 2016Written by Katie Jepson

BCI has had the opportunity to work with many creative FIRST LEGO League teams who had chosen bats as the topic of their “Animal Allies” challenge. BCI is delighted to see so many young conservationists interested in finding solutions to the many issues bats face today. Today we highlight theSharon Robo Knights robotics team of Suwanee, GA and their idea for deterring bats from wind turbines. Coach Wendy Wing shares with us their solution:

The Sharon Robo Knights are ready to stand up for bat conservation! Courtesy of Wendy Wing

The Bat Drone Shield would be a deterrent system designed to keep bats away from wind turbines. It would consist of one drone for each 3 turbines. The drones would have a speaker that would emit the sound of the natural predator of the bat that was indigenous to that area. The drones would be charged on an induction pad and would be deployed at twilight and when the winds were between 4-7 m/s. The drones would be deployed when bats were detected using the bat acoustic detectors. The sound of the natural predator would be set at the actual frequency of the predator, so as to not be annoying to humans who might live in the area. The students have created a website explaining their solution at batdroneshield.weebly.com.

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